In Your Eyes, The World
by Candy Apple Heart Attack
Summary: They do say that soulmates can summon one another, across any distance--if the need is great enough. Or the desire, of course...Maybe, Haido, your need for me was so great...it led you to me." GacktXHyde. Bento Girls-style Christmas story exchange.


Hey, peeps, this is Dale posting for Chip. Initially, this was written as a christmas present to me, but we both enjoyed it so much, we figured we would post it and share it. So, peeps, Chip wrote this one and I hope y'all enjoy it, 'kay?

~*laughs at clever Moon Child pun*~

* * *

[In Your Eyes, The World]

What were the chances, really, that they would run into each other _here_--half-way around the world from home, friends or the media that knew them best?

What were the odds that they were booked to stay in the same little-known hotel on the ocean, in a town where neither of them had ever frequented before?

Slim, to none.

Still, let it never be said that they weren't creative.

--

The ambiance of waves lulling against the shore was enough to put Hyde to sleep; he was fitful without rest and the jet-lag from his cross-continental flight was telling on him. He didn't so much as glance at the suite he'd rented, but rather dropped his bags just inside the doorway, flipped the lock and fell onto the bed, limbs flung wide. Clothed and still wearing his shoes, he slept.

Morning came with the touch of sunlight's rays over his face, slipping through the slatted wooden screens over the window. He mumbled his hatred of early rising and turned his face away from the ridiculous light...

A quiet chuckle roused him to the presence of another.

Blinking blearily, he lifted his head to squint at the form seated against the headboard of his bed, ankles crossed and feet bare. The white linen of his button-down caught Hyde's attention first, in that it was very island-wear; the dark linen pants said something similar.

But it was the hair which held his gaze longest--blonde-and-brown, longish in a close-kept sort of way--and bangs which fell down over a seamless forehead. Familiar, somehow...

"Are you well rested, Haido-kun?"

The use of his name brought awareness to Hyde like nothing else; he sat bolt upright very suddenly, one hand going to his head as the world spun around him. "Ugh," he mumbled, "Too fast."

Another quiet chuckle, "I had forgotten what a disheveled beauty you are in the mornings." The mattress dipped and two arms wrapped themselves around Hyde's body, gently. "I have missed it so."

The voice was connected to a face and a thousand, spiraling images and memories that whirled in Hyde's mind like a frazzled movie reel. He lifted his chin a little, not understanding how it could be possible but just hopeful enough to believe...

"Gacchan?"

Warm breath fanned the side of his neck, "Hai."

Could it be? Not wanting to move much faster--afraid to find this all a dream--Hyde turned his head very slowly, to glance over his shoulder.

Sure enough, his eyes met and held another's; dark to crystalline.

"Gacchan," he breathed out on a whisper.

Sculpted lips curved upward in a smile, perfect white teeth flashing. "Don't sound surprised, Haido. Soulmates have a sort of allure, even across oceans."

Hyde's eyes were fixed to that smile, still, and the tiny sharpened points of pearly twin fangs in the mouth of a man who--for all intensive purposes--was his husband.

"God," he whispered.

"No," said the other, "But if it pleases you to think so, be my guest."

The joke was old and worn, but still funny when it passed through the lips of such an elegant person. Hyde laughed, tiredly, for lack of will to do anything else. The arms around him were so warm...

"Rest Haido, sleep." The arms were dragged him gently across the bed, pulling him toward the pillows. "I will hold you until you wake again. Then, we'll talk."

"Gacchan," he muttered.

"Sssh, no--do as I say, pet."

And so he did. In the space of a hazy moment, Hyde was asleep.

--

For the second time that day, Hyde awoke--slowly this time, lifting up through the layers of sleep to touch the muted, golden glow of his hotel suite. The bed he lay on was soft, the comforter smooth; the arms that held him, ever so gentle, were strong and warm.

And, from somewhere nearby, a voice singing softly in Japanese; a lullaby, he felt sure. It soft, melodious and familiar--something he'd heard before. Something just for him.

Fingers drifted through his hair, curling some behind his ear; then, the feather-light touch slipped lower, down is neck, tracing the path of his pulse downward. Over his collar-bone, he felt nails skimming lightly; a tap, to the silver chain that hung around his neck and disappeared beneath his shirt.

The hand rested there, splayed over his heart.

Slowly, Hyde opened his eyes...

His beautiful, long-unseen friend was truly there after all. It was still the same Kamui, with unreal eyes and lips that kept smiles tucked away behind them. The hair was blonder than he remembered it, with some amber-brown too--but it fell the ever the same. It was gorgeous, on him.

But the way those too-blue eyes focused on _him_, so intently, while the lullaby slipped from between his lips...

With that hand, laid so unobtrusively but with blatant possession over his chest...

The way his stomach was suddenly filled with light, fluttering sensations; he felt filled with butterflies, then, under this man's touch...

It was all familiar, sweetly so.

Gacchan...

_Kamui..._

The lullaby drifted away, ending on a breathy, hopeful note that Hyde heard only too well. The brilliance of Kamui's smile was dimmed slightly by the way he bit his lip, the picture of nervous indecision. Hyde, of course, knew that he felt no such thing.

"You've been asleep for so long, Haido-kun; I'm glad that you are well rested now."

Hyde nodded his head, minutely. "Arigato, for the song." He glanced around, not turning away but making a great show of finding some other thing of interest. "What a surprise to find you here, Gacchan."

"Ah, yes." The way he elongated the last syllable seemed to imply everything...and nothing. His body was long and pressed against Hyde's wherever possible, allowing the smaller man to curl himself into the embrace.

Color flooded his cheeks.

A soft, breathy laugh told him that he had not escaped attention. "Do not be so shy, Haido-kun; you blush so prettily." The hand over his head drifted lower, just slightly, but seemed to rest closer now to his navel.

"Gacchan," Hyde mumbled, desperate for a way to halt the inevitable, "You haven't told me how you got here."

"The same way you did, Haido--on a plane." The smile was half-grown this time, crooked. "However, while you arrived only last night, I have been here for two weeks."

"Two weeks?"

"Vacationing, Haido."

"Ah, I see."

An uncomfortable warmth settled over Hyde, then. He'd been running away from Japan--from his wife, from his son, from his career. It was cold in December, everything coated in eight-inches of snow; cold, like the chill in Hyde's own heart.

Tetsu suggested a vacation in the States, someplace sunny, with lots of unfamiliar faces--it seemed like a good idea at the time.

But still, somehow, when what he needed most was time to clear his head of idle fantasies, the master of fantasies appeared at his side.

"Did you..." he trails off, unsure how to ask such a pointed question to this man. Kamui is his friend...and more, however much he tries to ignore it.

The way his body thrummed at his proximity made it hard to do so now.

Gratefully, though, Kamui takes over. "No, Haido, I did not arrange this. I would be hard-pressed to convince your Tetchan to send you anywhere within eyeshot of me. He opposes my attentions, as you know."

Hyde _did_ know--it was why it seemed so unlikely that Tetsu would send him on vacation where he suspected the world-famous Gackt might be.

"Then, how is it possible..."

"Ah, well," Kamui breathed, the smile on his face full force now. "They do say that soulmates can summon one another, across any distance--if the need is great enough. Or the desire, of course." His hand drifted lower again, his palm directly over Hyde's navel now. "Maybe, Haido, your need for me was so great...it led you to me."

Hyde felt over-warm. "I have no need."

"Really?" This time the move is not even _partially_ subtle; the hand drifted lower still, to settle over the uncomfortable ache that was impossible to hide in these slacks. Hyde's eyes widened, then fluttered shut as that hand caressed him softly through the fabric.

"I'd say your need is fairly obvious, Haido--obvious and lacking any thorough attention."

"I..." his words fell useless on his tongue, lying like a wet butterfly over his lips, silencing him for now.

"Ah, don't worry, pet--I know what you need. I always do." Deft fingers had the slacks unbuttoned and unzipped in the space of a moment; the fabric parted and that hand dipped inside to pull forth its prize.

Hyde gasped as he felt himself freed, exposed to the gaze of another.

"See, Haido? Your body wants my touch, however much you try to deny it."

"Gacchan...I...need..." he trailed off, unsure whether he wanted him to stop or continue. He bit his lip, staring up into blue eyes, hoping his indecision didn't show on his face.

Lips curved upward, devilishly. "I know, pet--and your wish is my command."

Then, ever so slowly, that hand began to move. Hyde's first inclination was to say no, but what use would it do against this man, who knew him better than he knew himself? Instead, he caught his breath and fought to not be affected...

Impossible, under _that_ touch.

That hand gliding so smoothly over his length, fingers squeezing firmly, tightly. Hyde threw his head back against the curve of Kamui's shoulder, his lips falling open over a gasp. Kamui's touch is hot and skillful, with all the grace of a master musician who knows his instrument best.

There's never been any doubt that Kamui plays Hyde's body with masterful expertise.

The late afternoon sun fought valiantly to break through the slatted screens over the window, warming the room and casting their golden touch over both men. Hyde's gaze goes blurry when he tries to focus on Kamui, the light playing havoc with the color of his hair and the shade of his eyes.

Blue, always blue for him.

The slow, torturous strokes do their job; Hyde writhed mindlessly in Kamui's embrace, his mind screaming a thousand reasons to halt, but his body craving _more_.

"You see how you miss me, Haido? You can't deny it." The hand pumps once, twice--quickly, drawing a sharp hiss from the smaller man. Kamui smiled, his points of his fangs catching the light.

"I've come to give you a present, Haido--it's Christmas for the Americans, understand." He nuzzled Hyde's cheek, his hand still busy slowly driving the man insane. "I've seen how busy you've been back home--busy, busy, my poor Haido. Always so tired, so over-worked."

"I've been...working..." Hyde stuttered.

"Hai, working, yes. But too hard, I think." Kamui's lips tipped upward, a smile which boded trouble. "Haido...you're only _human_."

The way he said it made Hyde's eyes fly open, his gaze locked to the crystalline one above. Human, human...and Kamui, who was most definitely _not_.

"Gac--" he broke off and tried again, "Kamui-sama..."

"Ssh, don't try to beg now, pet. You've had it coming for a long while. I gave you your space--you said you needed time. You've had it, and now, I won't be put off any longer."

"But, I didn't _agree_ yet!" Hyde protested.

"You agreed in Taiwan, love."

"But things have changed! I have a wife and a son and..." Hyde trailed off, not liking the way Kamui's lips were curving.

"Ah, Megumi, yes...and your son, such a pretty boy." The tone of voice was bemused, "Megumi is one of my fledglings, Haido--an appropriately dutiful one, who has kept and protected my most prized possession for so many years. She is very fond of you and I am grateful to her."

Somehow, the realization that his wife was a vampiric guardian didn't seem to far-fetched. More than once he'd entertained the idea that there was something _different_ about his Megumi.

But...

"My son..."

"He _is_ yours, of course, Haido--I wouldn't steal the opportunity of fatherhood from you. Never." Kamui's smile softened, "You make such a lovely father, pet."

"But, I thought...vampires could not have children?"

"Male vampires, Haido--males only. The women can mate with human males for children, should they so please."

"Oh," was Hyde's dull answer.

"Don't look so crestfallen, pet. I mean you no harm, truly. I simply cannot bring myself to watch you wear-out in this human form. You're a candle in the darkness, Haido, and I will not watch you fade away."

Hyde was watching Kamui's face, seeing the fierce determination stamped there in the line of his jaw and the way his eyes stayed focused on Hyde. Still, his hand made the motions below, his touch soothing--distracting--in its eroticism. There was no way that a normal, intelligible conversation could be carried out with Kamui touching him.

"Stop," Hyde whispered, "Stop touching me. We need...need to talk about this."

"I think not, pet. The decision is made."

Frustrated by the other's refusal to heed, Hyde raised both hands to push Kamui away. The action was grossly under-calculated, however. With one motion, Kamui captured both of Hyde's wrists in the palm of one hand and pressed them down into the pillow above his head, effectively trapping him.

Hyde squirmed, trying to lift his shoulders--and thus, his arms--from the bed. Kamui's strength was casual but alarming; he was immovable. Hyde turned his head, shaking the hair from his eyes; his hips thrusted once into Kamui's hand. The hand wrapped around his length tightened, gripping firmly.

Pleasurably.

Hyde's back ached, ever so slightly, despite himself.

"Your attempts to escape me are adorable, Haido, but please do not make the mistake of injuring yourself. I will be displeased." Kamui's eyes were narrowed at the mere thought of hurt; his fist glided smoothly, upward and down, at a pace only slightly faster than the one before but still torturous. Hyde could feel _everything_.

"Kamui-sama..."

"Ah," Kamui hissed, "You say that so prettily. I haven't heard it in so long."

"Kamui-sama," Hyde said again, unashamed to play on the vampire's weakness. "I'm not ready..."

"You will be pet, you'll see."

The pace of Kamui's ministrations suddenly increased, much too quickly. The startled gasp that flew from Hyde's lips was swallowed by Kamui, who leaned down to capture his lips with his own. The kiss was hot, warm breath against breath; one tongue dueling against another. Kamui's fangs pressed down into Hyde's lip and the smaller man gasped again, the gasp rapidly turning to a moan as the warm thrill of danger swept through him.

They fell into their familiar roles easily, despite the months since they'd last done this sort of thing. Kamui's leaned over his lover, dominating without force, demanding. Hyde sank into the plush mattress, lifting his lips to Kamui's, to deepen their kiss. The hand which pinned his wrists to the pillow was tight, holding him down--a reminder Kamui's of lustful control. The other hand..._oh_, the other hand...

Breathless with desire, Hyde rolled his head back and forth across the pillow. "Kamui...," he moaned.

"Tell me what you want, pet."

"I...I want..." A smooth glide stole his words, breaking him of coherent thought. A jumbled syllable was the only thing to pass his lips, on a breath.

Kamui's smile is wide, "Hm, how can I give you your presents unless you ask for them like a good boy, Haido?"

His fingers played delicately over the sensitive tip of that part of Hyde's body, drawing a shiver from his lover. Hyde's lips were parted, breath slipping in and out, unevenly. His chest rose and fell beneath the fabric of his shirt, drawing Kamui's attention.

"I trust, Haido," he said, leaning in, "that if I release your hands, you will behave yourself."

Hyde's frantic nod is assent enough.

With his now free hand, Kamui raked his nails down the front of Hyde's thin t-shirt, rending the fabric with his preternatural strength. The shredded garment gaped over Hyde's heaving chest, bearing the expanse of smooth tanned skin all the way down to the curve of his hips. His slacks rode low there without a belt; open already, it gave Kamui just _that_ much more of his Haido to his gaze.

Hyde caught sight of himself in the mirror across the bedroom and squeezed his eyes shut, embarrassed. A blush swept his cheeks and he bit his lip at one corner, afraid he'd say something wanton.

Kamui's gaze burned over his lover, taking in every inch of tanned satin skin; lying curled above Hyde's heart was the end of a silver rosary, the cross glinting in the sunlight.

"I'm going to love spending eternity with you, Haido." Kamui's tone said it all, the smile stretching across his face. In his eyes, there was a glow. A joy. He took the cross between his finger tips, playing with it idly as he watched Hyde writhe. Then, with a wicked grin, he brought the pendant to rest against the man's lower lip, pressing it down to rest there.

"Keep that there, Haido."

A moan slipped through Hyde's lips. "It's...religious..."

Kamui laughed, lowly. "God's a voyeur, pet. He'll enjoy this almost as much as I will."

A ragged groan was Hyde's only reply.

Leaning low over Hyde's form, Kamui pressed his lips to the arched curve of his lover's throat, tasting the light sheen of sweat there. Hyde is always _warm_, a grateful respite when Kamui himself was too often over-cold. He takes a deep breath, taking in the subtly sweet, distinctly unique scent that was _Hyde. _It was so addicting, so pleasurable a scent...

...he wanted to cover himself in it.

Platinum Egoist could not compare, by any measure.

His lips pressed short, punctual kisses over Hyde's skin; he made his way down, until he could kiss the fluttering, butterfly beneath the flesh--Hyde's pulse. The smaller man tensed, but didn't pull away; his hips pressed upward into Kamui's touch, anxious.

Kamui paused, breathing over the fluttering pulse.

"You have to ask for it, Haido."

Hyde's head turned, giving Kamui a better angle. "I...I...onegai, Kamui-sama?" He rolled his hips, trying to get a better friction against Kamui's hand, but the other wouldn't allow it. He held his hand still, pressing Hyde down into the mattress with his proximity.

"What is it you want, Haido-kun?" Kamui purred. "Ask it properly."

A groan, probably of embarrassment.

"Do it," Kamui whispered.

Hyde turned his head, forcing Kamui to pull back to meet his gaze. Blue collided with dark, soulful ebony...

"Onegai, Kamui-sama..." Hyde whispered around the silver cross, his eyes locked to Kamui's. "Onegai, Kamui...make me like you."

For the first time, it is Kamui's who heaved the ragged groan, his nails digging into Hyde's skin lightly. He pressed Hyde back down into the mattress, burying his face in the curve of the smaller man's shoulder. His fangs rang out, points pressed into flesh.

Below, his hand sped through the motions, drawing prolonged, tortured sounds from Hyde. It was with preternatural speed that Kamui orchestrated his motions now, harder, faster...

Then, exhaling all his breath, Kamui took his bite of his pet.

Hyde's blood exploded over his tongue at the same time that the man himself burst with pleasure, his breath slamming from his lungs at the dual sensation of losing himself. Without ceasing his attack on Hyde's body, he swallowed the mouthful of ruby sweetness and lapped his tongue across the twin wounds made in the flesh, drawing more. Beneath him, Hyde shuddered, his hips twitching, his head thrown back. Between his teeth, he held the silver cross, biting down to hold back his cries. The sun turned him golden all over, highlighting the moment.

From his perspective, Kamui had never seen anything so beautiful in all his immortal life. He drank of Hyde's sweetness, feeling the thrill of possession stealing up inside him.

Hyde was _his_.

_Always._

_Forever._

_Now._

How long the moment lasted, neither could say. For his own part, Hyde saw brilliant light before his eyes and little else; the universe spun in all seven colors--and one he'd never seen--above his head, in his pulse. His body thrummed with energy, even as he felt his mind float away. He could feel the warming silver of the cross on his lips, touching the tip of his tongue--but beyond that, there was only the heat of Kamui's mouth and the shock of orgasm rolling through his body.

Kamui felt himself falling into the swirling abyss of transience that was the life flowing in a river of blood. Reluctantly, he broke away; his lips were parted over a breath. His gaze skimmed over his little lover, taking in his closed eyes, shallow breaths and fluttering pulse.

"It's time, Haido." Adjusting his embrace around the other man, Kamui tried to pull him closer.

Though obviously weak, Hyde struggled, pushing one arm between them. "I'm...dirty...Kamui..." He panted his words, glancing down along his body. Sure enough, the milky streams of his release were smeared across his lower abdomen, dripping.

Hyde's cheeks colored, his head falling back against the pillow as he squeezed his eyes shut tightly.

Kamui chuckled, tracing a finger along the dry paths between the messy shots, teasing. "You alone could make such an un-neat thing so _kawaii_, Haido-kun."

Hyde groaned, "Don't talk about it."

Kamui chuckled again, turning Hyde's flushing face into his throat. With one hand, he slashed a thin incision in his flesh with his nails; he felt the blood well-up and run. Then, he grasped a fistful of his lover's silken hair between his fingers, pushing downward firmly. "Now, my pet--_drink_."

Hyde was helpless against the compulsion--Kamui had his blood and poor Haido was susceptible to influence now. Without a thought, Kamui used his power to have his way.

Haido would forgive his roughness, later.

Soft, human lips were against his throat; a warm, delicate tongue lapping gently along the wound, catching the blood. A sound of pleasure--like a cat's purr--slipped between their bodies.

Whether the sound was Hyde's or his own, Kamui was unsure. He threw his head back against the pillow, in turn, and allowed Hyde to feast from him.

As a true lover _must_.

They were suspended in time, Hyde taking what his body needed and his soul demanded--Kamui, in the purest form. It could have been moments or hours--or days, nights, with the apocalypse falling down around them--and Kamui would have paid it the same heed.

With Hyde, the world ceased to be of interest.

But--too soon--Hyde pulled away sharply, pain breaking the compulsion over him. Discomfort moved quickly across his features, his body curling in on itself in an effort to relieve the fire burning under his skin--in every muscle, organ, burn and vein. His eyes cleared of the fog, flying upward to lock gaze-with-gaze to Kamui's.

"You are being converted, Haido."

"Agh, Kamui-sama..." Hyde winced, one hand rising to his stomach--seemingly unaware of the residue of his release under his fingertips. "Kamui...sama...it _hurts..._"

"I know it does, Haido." In Hyde's hair, Kamui's fist tightened. "I'm sorry."

A startled cry from Hyde wrenched at Kamui's heart; the man had to watch as the soon-to-be-former-human writhed in the twisted blankets on the bed, his eyes staring unseeingly at the ceiling as he was wracked by pain.

"Kamui-sama...I...I...it _hurts_...please...onegai, Kamui-sama...make it _stop_..." Hyde's whimper was horrible to hear. The writhing man turned his head to make contact with Kamui; gaze to feverish, panicky gaze.

"Gacchan...onegai..."

A sudden swell in the internal-fire made Hyde's body tighten completely; he went stiff like a board, his mouth falling open in a scream that never made it up his throat. Tears gathered in the corners of his eyes and spilled in twin streams of crystal that caught the fading sunlight in the room and rolled down into his hairline.

Cursing, Kamui waited the wave out with his lover, counting the seconds. There would be a time when he could send Hyde to sleep--a deep, unconscious sleep--where he would feel no more pain. _Then_ the conversion could continue without this...this...

_Agony._

It took three minutes for the tightness to loosen; by then, Hyde's face was flushed red from exertion and pain; his cheeks were moistened by tears.

He used his first real moment of freedom--of free movement and breath--to whisper to his lover.

"Gacchan..._save me..._"

And then he screamed--actually _screamed_. Hyde's voice was a beautiful thing, like the song of an angel...

...but raised in such horror, such pain--it was a blasphemous howl; agony coursed through Kamui at the sound and he gave up holding back his own tears.

It took another hour for the convulsions and the waves of pain to slow--the interim periods between bouts became more and more distant. It was the sign Kamui was waiting for. With the swiftest, firmest mental command he could, he sent Hyde to sleep; he ordered his lover to _rest _and recover.

_"Let me handle the rest, Haido--my love."_

And when Hyde was most assuredly unconscious--only _then_ did Kamui's tension ease, the anxious agony draining from his body.

But he did _not_ let go of Hyde; he kept him in his arms, all the while.

--

The sun set completely around eight-thirty that day. By then, the conversion was over--and Kamui couldn't have been more relieved. To see Hyde--his Haido--in pain was the single most unpleasant experience of his life, _including_ his own conversion.

At eight-thirty, Kamui was bringing Hyde's limp, naked body from the bathroom, where he'd bathed his beautiful pet. The man would probably be embarrassed to know he'd been coddled, like a child, but Kamui decided that it would be better to wake him cleaned and whole.

He fished into the single suitcase by the bedside and withdrew some clothes; he dressed Hyde like a doll, trying to be impartial. His hands, uncharacteristically, shook with worry.

He'd been so sure--hours ago--that Hyde was willing...that he would forgive him for not warning him about the pain.

For not _really_ giving him a choice.

But now, Kamui's natural confidence faltered. Only Hyde could reduce him in such a way. Only Hyde, who's beautiful, entertaining human life had been changed irrevocably by _him_.

Hyde had once asked for time, for a choice in the end.

And Kamui had pretended to do just that--give him time, give him a choice.

But the vampire knew he'd never had any intentions of giving up on Haido. He didn't think he _could_ even if he'd wanted to. The best of intents--or the most malicious of pains--could not separate soulmates.

Only death, for a time, before rebirth.

But, thankfully, Kamui had righted that little injustice as well.

Immortality, with his love, forever.

Provided, of course, that Hyde didn't try to kill him upon waking.

It was a gamble Kamui was willing to take.

--

He gave the compulsion to _wake_, hovering just at his lover's side. He saw Hyde's chest rise, before his eyes even opened. That was a good sign; breathing before panicking.

But would it last?

Thick, dusky eyelashes fluttered upward, brushing against the pale curve of Hyde's skin--paler, now, than he'd probably ever been. It was an alabaster sort of appearance--like porcelain or fine ivory.

Natural and unnatural, at once.

Then, like he'd known that Kamui would be there, Hyde's gaze shifted immediately to his maker. And their gazes--vampiric--clashed for the first time.

Wondrous, entrancing blue...

...and liquid, golden amberine.

Kamui gasped.

"What's wrong, Kamui-sama? Am I so hideous now?" Hyde's tone sounded genuinely concerned, as if he feared he might be somehow a monster.

"On the contrary, Haido..." Kamui breathed, his relief and his amazement rolling out on an exhale. "You're..._beautiful_...beyond words."

"Promise?" Hyde asked, worrying his bottom lip. Maybe he hadn't noticed that he was doing so with the tip of his fang, but Kamui did.

He swallowed, convulsively. It seemed that whatever natural sensuality Hyde had was only magnified in his vampirism.

"Yes, I promise, Haido-kun. You're breathtaking. Like a god. Or, an angel."

"How do I look?"

Kamui knew he wanted a description.

"Your skin is pale, now--gorgeously so. Your lips are precious, light; sakura-petals, Haido. And your hair is like silk, more so than ever. You're eyes..." Kamui trailed off, staring into those changed orbs with wonder. How to describe them?

"My eyes are like yours? They're blue?"

"No, not blue. Still brown, but somehow not." Kamui touched a fingertip to the curve of Hyde's high cheekbone; he was shaking, afraid to touch this angel. "Golden, like fire. Or..." he trailed off, momentarily, "Like a setting sun. But dark underneath, like rich wood or those foreign chocolates that you like."

"Belgian," Hyde supplied automatically.

"Yes, those." Kamui made a mental note to buy Hyde a dozen boxes of those chocolates, as soon as possible.

A moment passed between them in silence; Kamui stared, enraptured.

Hyde's eyes seemed to be searching over Kamui's face, looking for something. Whether he found it or not, the older vampire could not say. However, Hyde's lips tilted up in a smile and the worry disappeared from his luminous eyes.

"I'm hungry," he said with a smile.

It was the closest thing to "goofy" Kamui had ever seen.

He couldn't help smiling himself.

"We'll hunt later, koi." For now though... Kamui's thoughts ran hot and carnal, just for a split second.

Maybe there was something of it in his eyes, because Hyde's gaze went wide. Cat-quick, he was gone, standing across the room by the window, plastered against the wall and standing low. "You keep away you crazy sex creature. I just woke up."

"Yes, but we didn't get to finish properly last time." Kamui said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Hyde shook his head, "You're ravenous."

In between one second and the next--impossibly fast--Kamui was pinning Hyde to the wall, one hand grasping his wrists to pin them above his head; the other arm scooped under Hyde's body to lift him. The smaller vampire wrapped his legs around Kamui's waist.

Smiling, triumphant, Kamui pressed in close. His lips hovered a scant inch above Hyde's, drawing out the moment.

Then...

"Ravenous, yes, Haido. But..." He smiled wider, "Only for you. _Always_ for you."

And then he leaned in and kissed his pet fully, Hyde's fangs brushing against his bottom lip just hard enough to draw blood over them. The extra fluid between them was swallowed, but still dripped...

Kamui pulled away just enough to see a lone droplet slip from the corner of Hyde's lip, to roll down his chin.

With a groan, he swung his lover around and threw him down onto the bed.

...Where they stayed, for the rest of the evening and well into the morning.

--

In the suite next door to Hyde's, a lone human woman sat on the hard, unforgiving wood floor, her back against the wall. The moans, groans and cries coming from the next room were clearly audible to her. Her face was flushed with embarrassment, and intrigue.

Between her parted feet rested her laptop, its screen brightly lit and a blank document opened in her word processor. Her fingers rested like frozen flowers, spread over the keyboard seemingly without direction. Her eyes stared at the blank, white space of the document and the periodic flashing of the cursor.

A loud thump against the wall behind her made her blush furiously and she ducked her head.

No _way_ was Laura going to believe this.

But...

She had to try.

With red-hot cheeks and shaking hands, Justine began to press out the words and sentences which would become her memento of the time she'd spent here, on her little vacation. Of the secret meeting and secret transformation she'd witnessed--more or less--and the terrible, wonderful activities going on in the next room.

Of course, she only had sounds to go on...

...but she was a writer.

She let imagination be her guide.

And, when she finished the piece--nearly three days after Christmas and two hours before her checkout--she signed the end of the page with, "Merry Christmas, Laura."

And smiled.

However, when she made her way down to the front desk some time later, bags and plane tickets in hand, she had the misfortune to pass the two men from the next room slipping out of the elevator.

She ducked her head and fled out the door.

Leaving her two-hundred dollar bill, four-hundred dollars in cash and the sound of a halted, choked squeal behind her.

* * *

A/N: Ah, what the hell, I'm leaving the footnote/dedication 'cause it makes me happy. I love you so much, Chip. And the readers... but they have to understand my sappy love for you can't die. Lol. Happy new Year, y'all.

_Merry Christmas, my chipmunkity friend. _

_This present is over-due but given with a thought in mind._

_You wrote for me; I wrote for you._

_The best gift two writers can give one another, ne?_

_Lol. Ciao, bella._

_-Chip._


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